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English Orals by 2016! Are we prepared?
Submitted by
Craig on Jul 1, 2014 15:51 pm
It is widely acknowledged that the Jamaican society is a bilingual one. The issue of English language competence has come to the fore, time and again, due to the poor results of our students on critical exams such as the GSAT and CSEC. To date, the Ministry of Education and schools have taken an academic approach to the teaching and assessment of language, which only focus on reading and writing. To a large extent, speaking and listening, have been ignored. Given the difficulties students face in demonstrating English language competence, there have been calls for the inclusion of an oral component to the English exams.
Late last year, the Honourable Minister, Rev. Thwaites indicated that English oral examinations will be introduced by 2016, and said “it’s not a matter just of writing or ticking the right box, you are going to be examined on your ability to speak English”. As we reflect on the Jamaican classroom and consider our preparedness, please share your views on the following questions:
- What changes do you foresee will occur as a result of the English oral test being implemented?
- Is the approach to English oral practice within the Jamaican Classroom sufficient? Why or why not?
- What changes, if any, will the Jamaican English Classroom need to make to help prepare students for the 2016 oral exam?
The comment period will begin on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 and end on Friday, August 1. The CoP Facilitation Team will monitor the comments submitted and provide the community with a weekly summary.
How to participate:
- All CoP Members may participate in the e query and submitting a comment.
- Please note that your comments will not be delivered to the entire group until the weekly compilation of posts is sent out by the Facilitation Team.
- At the end of the query period, the Facilitation Team will develop a summary document of members' comments including recommendations to share with the community.
- For help, click here to view our instruction guide or contact us at soe@uwimona.edu.jm
We look forward to hearing from all of you as you share your experiences, observations and insights regarding this important issue.
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Comments (8)
Insufficient Oral Practice of English
The Jamaican English classroom, from my experience as a student, does not focus on the teaching of speaking English. Code switching is prized, but students are not adequately prepared to do this. In my opinion, there isn't sufficient practice and therefore, unless something changes, students (especially those from rural areas), will be at a disadvantage when English oral examinations are introduced in 2016.
English Orals
I hope the inclusion of Orals on the English Language competency will make Jamaican students more aware of the differences between the patois and english. This all depends on the structure of the english orals and what it is supposed to do. I would like to learn more through this forum. Being able to speak properly in a language and being understood by others is very important in the global market. As Alesia stated code switching is a very important skill, only ones who are able to do this successfully can truly say they have a mastery of both languages. However, I also agree that perhaps our students are not prepared currently to code switch.
Persons might say oh, everybody can twang and put on an accent. However one must realise that spoken language is much more than the sound to ones ear, it also about how we craft our words to form sentences in communication with someone else. Often over the years, when myself past through education institutions, I have heard others say "you write like how you speak". Adding the oral components may be a practical way of addressing grammer through spoken words. Are our teachers and relevant professionals ready to groom our jamaican students to perform at the standard we set? I am not sure. I would like to learn about the way teachers have been prepared for this change, through continuing education specifically addressing this matter, and what changes will they incorporate to ensure that students will be able to speak standard english in orals on exam day?
As I read the post by Craig, apart from our Jamaican Patois, other factors relevant to 21st century communication has in my view affected written communication, that is, the shortened expression generally used in text and online communication with friends, e.g. lol, u for you.
Children need to master written and oral communication so I believe the change is important. I have always been an advocate of English being taught as a second language in Jamaican schools and this is one step closer to that orientation.
Another area I would like to see addressed is listening comprehension but I suppose that is a talk for another time
English Orals
This is an interesting move by the Ministry Team and as a benchmark target is admirable. By 2016 I doubt that it will be ready because there is so much happening for change in the sector already that their cup runneth over perhaps.
It is my opinion that teachers pupils and parents will not be ready for this. Part of the problem in Jamaica is the lack of parental participation and endorsement of what goes on in the classroom. If a child goes home and there is not interest in what has been going on during the school day then what message doesthat give to the child? Far more work needs to done with parental participation. Schools need to become Community Centres so that the classroom merges into the community and vice versa. The National Parent Teacher Association needs to be heavily involved in this but of course is underfunded. The NPTAJ is however ideally place to facilitate this.
As I said, desirable, Yes, Admirable, Yes hoewevr unless social intervention of the type I describe is crafted I fear that what will happen is that it will cause a deeper rift and a wider gap between thos children who currently enjoy parental support and those who dont.
It would be even more unfortunate if this was reflected in examination which of course it would
Parent involvement & successful educational intervention
Mr. Russel brings up an important point and certaily parental involvment is extremely important and relevant to any educational intervention or any modification that we make. Certainly if introducing orals is not supported enough by parents we will not get the results we would like. As a part of the plan to introduce this component to the exam, teachers certainly has to be trained but parents also have a heavy responsibility to support that change. An warenes program is needed and school & parent training workshops speaking specifically to how parents can be involved, taking into account (parent level of education), interventions schools can make that make them more involved beyond a superficial level leading up to the introduction of this English Oral component.
Do you (teachers) anticipate any problems
Teacher, I am curious, have you done any preparation or attended any events put on by the Ministry related to Orals 2016? Do you feel you are given enough support? do you have any concerns regarding this new component to the exam?
Points so far & Botswana's Experience
Dear Community of Practice Members,
Thank you for your contributions to the discussion so far.
The consensus among community members so far is that the imminent introduction of the English oral test in Jamaica is a good step for the education system, however, we are not likely to be prepared for this by 2016. On the positive side, the points made by discussants indicate that they believe the English oral test will have a positive impact on English oral skills, including code switching, and enhancement of the awareness of the difference between Jamaican creole and Standard Jamaican English as well as written communication. However, members suggests that the change may negatively impact students who are already at a disadvantage such as those who live in rural areas and those without adequate parental support.
Members indicate that the intervention should include:
- an examination of listening comprehension,
- an awareness campaign
- additional training for teachers and parents
- the involvement of the National Parent Teachers Association
As we think about the Jamaica’s preparedness for the inclusion of an English oral test component by 2016, we can learn from the experiences of other countries such as Botswana.
Botswana’s Experience
In the late 1990s, Botswana’s Ministry of Education sought to implement something similar when they changed from the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate ordinary level English level one to General Botswana Certificate of Secondary Education English one. The new syllabus was to be skills oriented and use the English as a Secondary approach rather than be academically oriented. “However, at the implementation stage in 1998, it became apparent that the system was not ready for the assessment of speaking and listening by course work” (Nkosana, 2010). Some of the issues are highlighted below:
· In the rural areas, the environment offered fewer opportunities for students to witness English being used for everyday communication…Therefore the only place where students came in contact with English is at school, especially in the classroom where it is used for teaching and learning. (Nkosana, p. 9)
· Inadequate resources
o 44 per cent of teachers surveyed indicated there were inadequate resources
o Only one third thought that there were adequate materials to guide their teaching of English speaking skills
· In the context of large teaching loads coupled with crowded classrooms, effective use of the more interactive speaking tasks such as group work or role play was thought to be difficult (Nkosana, 2010)
· Large numbers of students in Botswana classrooms would overwhelm teachers if they attempted to assess speaking within an exam period (Nkosana, p. 12)
· The need for training of in-service teachers on how to conduct informal assessment of oral proficiency on a continuous and on-going basis.
Source: http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/TAS10.2/TAS10.2Nkosana.pdf
Please continue to share your experiences as we reflect on what this all means for implementing the English oral test in Jamaica.
Best regards,
Facilitation Team
Caribbean Partners for Educational Progress
Email: soe@uwimona.edu.jm
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Promising idea but...
If we start from the assumption that Jamaica is a bilingual country and that it is most helpful to teach English using second language approaches, then it seems reasonable to suggest that students should be tested in both the written and oral components of the target language. However, one can question whether another exam is necessary given the fact that our school system is saturated with examinations of different kinds. In that case, one can argue that all we need to do is to train teachers to implement classroom based activities that assess students' English oral language skills. But then again, research indicates that what is tested is often what is taught. Yet, I would suggest, as others have said in the posts, that we need to learn from what other countries have experienced when they implemented testing of English language oral competence.
Exam Necessary
One of the benefits of the inclusion of the English oral test is that serious attention will be paid to enhancing oral language competency in Jamaican classrooms. I agree that we are saturated with exams, however, I wonder to what extent will classroom based activities to assess student language skills will be implemented without an exam. As Yewande indicated, "what is tested is what is taught". Therefore, I think the inclusion is a necessary addition.
To be ready for 2016, I suspect that in addition to training of inservice and preservice teachers as it relates to the teaching and assessment of English speaking skills, adequate resources to support the changes is necessary.
Also, if we are to have classroom based assessment, standards would have to be agreed upon and made known, as well as an understanding of the weight of the oral test as part of the whole English exam score.